1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic devices, in particular consumer electronic devices, including an electrophoretic display, as well as to electronic document reading devices, sometimes called e-readers, such as electronic books.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of techniques are known for illuminating LCD display panels, including some techniques which rely on guiding illumination within a light guide plate. Examples can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,887, U.S. Pat. No. 6,791,635, U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,868 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,734,929. A similar light guiding principle is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,138 for illuminating pages of a conventional book. Other techniques for illuminating the pages of a conventional book, generally involving a lamp on an arm, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,306, WO 87/05266 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,312.
By contrast, embodiments of the invention relate to electronic reading devices with a self-contained light source, but which do not use an LCD display panel but which instead employ an electroactive display, such as a reflective bistable display (for example an electrophoretic or other like displays), which presents special problems and opportunities. This is because such a display can be flexible, and hence can have a curved configuration, and also because it can be difficult to effectively guide light within such a display.